So The NOLA Oyster Festival Is The Last Weekend of May

Yeah, it is a strange time of year to hold that particular festival.

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All the other weekends were booked

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Heard that before...the excuse doesn't wash. Plenty of weekends have more than one circus going in the city. Organizers screwed this up.

If I am going to promote something...anything....I'm putting my best foot forward , every time . I stand by my point....the organizers are missing the mark.

What BlackenedOut said. Many people are afraid of eating oysters during summer months and the festival was supposed to help encourage people to do that.

A lot of things have changed with oyster fishing/harvesting in last 10+ years. Boats require refrigeration now where as in the past they didn't. There are stricter regulations now on oysters than there ever was.

Otis, email the organizers & see if they are having blue points shipped in. Ole switch a roo may drive sales of gulf oysters!

Just tryin to make sense of an oyster festival at end of May. People don't eat a ton of oysters when they don't taste as good because.... Well, they don't taste as good.

I see both sides of this but still not enough reason to put on the festival around this time.

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Exactly.

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I agree though. Should have highlighted our other seasonal seafood like shrimp or Crab or LA seafood in general.

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Plus vibrio has nothing to do with refrigeration

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I always thought it did. When I worked in the industry, board of health used to inspect our oysters monthly for tags and storage and temp logs. This was their main focus when we got inspected. Now as the waters warm up say in July and August, it just makes oysters more prone to vibrio because the waters are warmer. From a LSU website:

LSU Oyster facts

Handling and Storage

Oysters may contain bacteria (Vibrio vulnificus) that can cause serious illness when eaten raw. These bacteria can grow rapidly at high nonrefrigerated temperatures. Proper storage is critical to control the growth of these harmful bacteria. Containers of shucked oysters should be stored at 32 - 38 °F, ideally packed in ice. Temperatures that low may kill a live oyster, so unshucked oysters should be stored at
40 - 45 °F. Fluctuations in temperature must be avoided. Live oysters should be stored away from the door of the cooler, where temperatures rise every time the door is opened. Live oysters should never be stored in direct contact with ice, in plastic bags or in water because the oysters will die.

For both shucked and unshucked oysters it is important to rotate the stock. Use the oldest oysters first to prevent spoilage of shucked oysters and gapping in live oysters. Gapped oysters are those with their shell open. If a gapped oyster closes its shell when tapped by an oyster knife, it is fine and may be used. If it doesn’t close its shell, it is dead and should be discarded. A certain amount of gapped oysters can be expected in any delivery, especially in summer months when heat stresses live oysters.

Oysters may be sold by volume, weight or count (number). Oysters sold by count must include weight on the container except at the retail level. Louisiana law allows for up to 15 percent free liquid in any volume container of shucked oysters.

I'll be at Blind Pelican downing 25 cent raw oysters like a boss. Have fun at your crap fest.